Sales Enablement in the Digital Age

Automated marketing strategies, syndicated content feeds, and real-time customer feedback are just three examples of how the digital age is touching and transforming the way we sell today. Evolving technologies in the last two decades have made it possible to see what, when, and how sales content is working.

What’s even better is that in just the last few years, companies have learned how to harness these insights to drive their business forward. How exactly are they making it all happen? Smarter sales content analytics.

Using modern sales enablement technology to illuminate the analytics behind your sales team’s wins and losses is the first step to bringing your insights to life. Read on to find out exactly how sales enablement can help you make the most of the data you’re generating every day.

Driving Business Optimization

Implementing a modern sales enablement platform is a natural move for any revenue-minded business. Whether you’re looking to maintain your strong sales momentum, searching for a way to get your struggling quotas back on track, or ready to take the next step to outmaneuver the competition – the right sales enablement technology will empower you to reach your sales goals.

Analytics are at the heart of modern sales enablement solutions and a key to performance optimization. Once you have analytical insights on your side, you can close the loop between what your marketing team is pushing out and what your sales team is pulling in. When you know (1) whether or not sales reps are using your marketing content, (2) how often your content is being used, and (3) how effectively your content engages target audiences, you have the data to scale your content strategy and ultimately, optimize your business.

Putting Modern Sales Enablement to Work

There’s no question that technology in the digital age has rapidly advanced the way we approach, negotiate, and close new opportunities. Sales enablement is a great example.  Once a point solution for better content management and basic performance feedback, sales enablement is now central to how business gets done at companies of all sizes and varieties.  

Here’s a quick look at some of the major advantages that the best sales enablement tools offer and the importance of analytics to each:

1. Content Management: Dynamic, flexible ways to organize content suited to the unique need of individual teams and informed by performance data and best practices.
2. User Experience (UX): Time-saving design with world-class, friction-free experiences to make navigating content easy and intuitive, and access to analytics just a click away.
3. Machine Learning: Capitalizes on better search, content recommendations, and performance tracking by learning what matters most to you.
4. Customer Engagement: Delivering content via data indicating the best channel and format for each individual customer.
5. Performance Analytics: Comprehensive analytics on content performance and visibility on quality and best practices.
6. Modification Tracking: Tracks edits on presentations to see how content is morphing in the field, allowing content to be improved and measured in real-time.
7. Technology Integration: Integrates with your existing enterprise solutions like CRM, cloud storage, 3rd Party BI, and productivity to consolidate resources.
8. Onboarding and Training: Using data-driven insights and activity engagement measures, sales teams can shorten onboarding time and improve sales rep performance.
9. Usage Rates: Sales leaders can monitor platform usage rates to help improve and expand what reps can accomplish.
10. Proven ROI: The proof is in the conversion rates and this is where sales enablement is changing the game.

Let the Numbers Speak for Themselves

By now we’ve covered how a modern sales enablement platform enhances sales productivity and revenue strategy.  So what’s the final deciding factor? The same rule for any business decision: Sales enablement delivers real results.

According to a recent Highspot/Heinz Marketing survey of nearly 400 B2B respondents, companies focused on sales enablement saw a 10% improvement on pipeline conversion rates, on average. More than half of companies surveyed had experienced improved sale rates of over 10%. Even more, the 11% of companies who had dedicated their resources to sales enablement teams, initiatives, and technology experienced more than 30% improved conversion rates.

Read the full findings here: The Sales Enablement Practitioner Survey.

A final stat to round out these findings was that a full 79% of organizations with sales teams larger than 10 reps are doing some form of structured sales enablement activities. If you’re looking for that competitive edge to drive real results, it’s proven: Sales enablement delivers on its promises.

Making the Move

Clearly, sales enablement technology is an important strategic investment for companies of all sizes and varieties. It has evolved from being a “nice-to-have” feature into a competitive necessity.

When you have smart analytics that deliver real-time feedback to your fingertips, coupled with a complete sales enablement platform, you’re in prime position to succeed as a sales team and close more deals.

For more information on deploying sales enablement in your organization, check out the Definitive Guide to Sales Enablement for best practices in getting started, technology evaluation and a complete list Sales Enablement Tools and Software.